Dietary rules

11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² Say to the Israelites: These are the creatures that you are allowed to eat from the land animals: ³ You can eat any animal that has divided hoofs, completely split, and that rechews food. ⁴ But of animals that rechew food and have divided hoofs you must not eat the following: the camel—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁵ the rock badger—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁶ the hare—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁷ the pig—though it has completely divided hoofs, it does not rechew food, so it is unclean for you. ⁸ You must not eat the flesh of these animals or touch their dead bodies; they are unclean for you.

⁹ You are allowed to eat the following from all water animals: You may eat anything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in sea or stream. ¹⁰ But anything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales—whether it be any of the swarming creatures in the water or any of the other living creatures in the water—is detestable to you ¹¹ and must remain so. You must not eat their flesh, and you must detest their dead bodies. ¹² Anything in the water that does not have fins or scales is detestable to you.

¹³ Of the birds, the following are the ones you must detest—they must not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the black vulture, the bearded vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, any kind of falcon, ¹⁵ any kind of raven, ¹⁶ the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, any kind of hawk, ¹⁷ the tawny owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl, ¹⁸ the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, ¹⁹ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.^[a]

²⁰ Any flying insect that walks on four feet is detestable to you, ²¹ but you can eat four-footed flying insects that have jointed legs above their feet with which they hop on the ground. ²² Of these you can eat the following: any kind of migrating locust, any kind of bald locust, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. ²³ But every other flying insect that has four feet is detestable to you.

Unclean animals

²⁴ You make yourself unclean by the following animals—whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening, ²⁵ and anyone who carries any part of their dead bodies must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening: ²⁶ All animals that have divided hoofs, but they are not completely split, and that do not rechew food are unclean for you—whoever touches them will be unclean. ²⁷ Of all the animals that walk on four feet, the ones that walk on their paws are unclean for you—anyone who touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. ²⁸ Anyone who carries one of their dead bodies must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening; these animals are unclean for you.

²⁹ The following are unclean for you among the small creatures that move about on the ground: the rat, the mouse, any kind of large lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the spotted lizard, the lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.^{[b] 31} Of all small moving creatures, these are unclean for you—anyone who touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening. ³² Moreover, anything on which one of these creatures falls when it is dead will be unclean, whether it is wood, cloth, skin, or funeral clothing—any such item that can be used to do work. It must be put into water and will be unclean until evening. Then it will be clean again. ³³ If any of these creatures fall into a pottery jar, everything inside it will be unclean; you must smash the pot. ³⁴ If water from such a jar gets on any edible food, it will be unclean; any drinkable beverage in such a jar will be unclean. ³⁵ Anything on which a part of these animals’ dead bodies might fall will be unclean. If it is an oven or stove, it must be destroyed; they are unclean for you and must remain that way. ³⁶ Now, a spring or cistern that collects water is clean, but anyone who touches one of these animals’ dead bodies in it will be unclean.^{[c] 37} If any part of these animals’ dead bodies falls on seed that is to be planted, the seed is still clean. ³⁸ But if water is poured on some seed and part of their dead bodies falls on it, it is unclean for you.

³⁹ If one of the animals that you are allowed to eat dies naturally, anyone who touches its dead body will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁰ Anyone who eats from the dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening. Anyone who carries such a dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ Every creature that swarms on the earth is detestable; it must not be eaten. ⁴² Among all such creatures that swarm on the earth, you must not eat anything that moves on its belly or anything that walks on four or more feet because they are detestable. ⁴³ Do not make yourselves detestable by means of any swarming creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean with them or be made unclean by them. ⁴⁴ I am the Lord your God. You must keep yourselves holy and be holy, because I am holy. You must not make yourselves unclean by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground. ⁴⁵ I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

Conclusion concerning animals and diet

⁴⁶ This concludes the Instruction concerning animals, birds, all creatures that live in water, and all the creatures that swarm on the earth, ⁴⁷ in order to distinguish between the unclean and the clean and between creatures that can be eaten and those that cannot.

Purification after childbirth

12 The Lord said to Moses: ² Say to the Israelites: If a woman conceives a child and gives birth to a son, she will be unclean for seven days—just as she is during her menstrual period. ³ On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy’s foreskin must be circumcised. ⁴ For thirty-three days the mother will be in a state of blood purification. She must not touch anything holy or enter the sacred area until her time of purification is completed. ⁵ But if the woman gives birth to a daughter, she will be unclean for two weeks—just as she is during her menstrual period—and will be in a state of blood purification^[d] for sixty-six days.

⁶ When the time of purification is complete, whether for a son or a daughter, the mother must bring a one-year-old lamb as an entirely burned offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a purification offering to the priest at the meeting tent’s entrance. ⁷ The priest will present it before the Lord and make reconciliation for her. She will then be cleansed from her blood flow. This is the Instruction for any woman who has a child, male or female. ⁸ But if the mother cannot afford a sheep, she can bring two turtledoves or two pigeons—one for the entirely burned offering and the other for the purification offering. The priest will then make reconciliation for her, and she will be clean.

Diagnosis of skin disease

13 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² When a person has a swelling, a scab, or a shiny spot on their skin, and it becomes an infection of skin disease^[e] on their skin, they will be brought to the priests, either to Aaron or one of his sons. ³ The priest will examine the infection on the skin. If hair in the infected area has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin, then it is an infection of skin disease. Once the priest sees this, he will declare the person unclean. ⁴ But if the shiny spot on the skin is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair has not turned white, the priest will quarantine the infected person for seven days. ⁵ On the seventh day the priest will again examine the infection. If he sees that it has remained the same—the infection has not spread on the skin—the priest will quarantine the person for seven more days. ⁶ On the seventh day the priest will examine it again. If the infection has faded and has not spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person clean; it is just a rash. The person must wash their clothes, then they will be clean again. ⁷ But if the rash continues to spread over the skin after they appeared before the priest for purification, they must again show themselves to the priest. ⁸ If the priest sees that the rash has spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is a case of skin disease.

⁹ Whenever someone has an infection of skin disease, they will be brought to the priest. ¹⁰ If the priest sees that there is a white swelling on the skin, it has turned the hair white, and there is a patch of raw flesh in the swelling, ¹¹ then it is a case of chronic skin disease on their skin. The priest will declare the person unclean. The priest will not quarantine such persons, because they are already unclean. ¹² But if the skin disease continues to break out so that the disease covers all of the infected person’s skin from head to toe, as far as the priest can tell— ¹³ then the priest will make an examination. If the skin disease has covered the person’s whole body, the priest will declare the infected person clean. The person has turned entirely white; he is clean. ¹⁴ But as soon as raw flesh appears in the swelling, they will be unclean. ¹⁵ When the priest sees the raw flesh, he will declare the person unclean. Raw flesh is unclean; it is a case of skin disease. ¹⁶ But if the raw flesh turns white again, the person will go back to the priest. ¹⁷ The priest will examine it. If the infection has turned white, the priest will declare the infected person clean; at that point, the person is clean.

¹⁸ Whenever someone has a boil on their skin, it heals, ¹⁹ and in place of the boil there is a white swelling or reddish-white shiny spot, it must be shown to the priest. ²⁰ If the priest sees that it appears to be lower than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest will declare the person unclean. It is an infection of skin disease that has broken out in the boil. ²¹ But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it, it is not lower than the skin, and it is faded, the priest will quarantine the person seven days. ²² If it continues to spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection. ²³ But if the shiny spot remains where it was and does not spread, it is just a scar from the boil. The priest will declare the person clean.

²⁴ Whenever there is a burn on someone’s skin, and the raw patch of the burn becomes a reddish-white or white shiny spot, ²⁵ the priest will examine it. If the hair has turned white in the shiny spot, and it appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a case of skin disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection of skin disease. ²⁶ But if the priest examines it, and there is no white hair in the shiny spot, it is not lower than the skin, and it is faded, the priest will quarantine the person seven days. ²⁷ On the seventh day the priest will again examine it. If it has continued to spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection of skin disease. ²⁸ But if the shiny spot remains where it was, has not spread over the skin, and is faded, it is just swelling from the burn. The priest will declare the person clean, because it is just the scar from the burn.

²⁹ Whenever a man or woman has an infection, whether on the head or in the beard, ³⁰ the priest will examine it. If it appears to be deeper than the skin, and there is thin yellow hair in it, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is a case of scabies—a skin disease of the head or beard. ³¹ When the priest examines the scabies infection, if it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, but there is no black hair in it, the priest will quarantine the person with the scabies infection for seven days. ³² On the seventh day the priest will examine the infection again. If the scabies has not spread, there is no yellow hair in it, and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ³³ the person must shave the area, without shaving the scabies. The priest will then quarantine that person another seven days. ³⁴ On the seventh day the priest will again examine the scabies. If it has not spread over the skin and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, the priest will declare the person clean. They must wash their clothes; then they will be clean again. ³⁵ But if the scabies continues to spread over the skin after the person’s purification, ³⁶ the priest must examine it again. If the scabies has spread over the skin at all, the priest does not need to look for the yellow hair; the person is unclean. ³⁷ But if the priest sees that the scabies has remained the same, and black hair has grown in it, the scabies has healed. The person is clean, and the priest will declare them to be so.

³⁸ Whenever a man or woman has many white shiny spots on their skin, ³⁹ if the priest sees that there are faded white shiny spots on the skin of the body, it is just a rash that has broken out on the skin; the person is clean.

⁴⁰ If someone loses their hair, they are bald, but they are clean. ⁴¹ If the hair is lost at the sides of the forehead, the person has a receding hairline, but they are clean. ⁴² But whenever there is a reddish-white infection in the bald spot or in the receding hairline, it is a case of skin disease breaking out there. ⁴³ The priest must examine it. If the swelling of the infection is reddish white in the bald spot or receding hairline and resembles skin disease on the body, ⁴⁴ the person is afflicted with skin disease; they are unclean. The priest must declare them unclean on account of the head infection.

⁴⁵ Anyone with an infection of skin disease must wear torn clothes, dishevel their hair, cover their upper lip, and shout out, “Unclean! Unclean!” ⁴⁶ They will be unclean as long as they are infected. They are unclean. They must live alone outside the camp.

Articles with skin disease

⁴⁷ Whenever there is an infection of skin disease on clothing—on wool or linen clothing, ⁴⁸ in the weaving of the linen or wool, or on a skin or skin item— ⁴⁹ and the infection is greenish or reddish on the clothing, the weaving, or the skin or skin item, it is an infection of skin disease. It must be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ The priest will examine the infection and quarantine the infected item seven days. ⁵¹ On the seventh day he will examine the infection again. If the infection has spread in the clothing, the weaving, or the skin, whatever it is used for, the infection is a case of infectious skin disease; the item is unclean. ⁵² The priest will burn the clothing, the weaving of the wool or linen, or whatever skin item in which the infection was found, because it is an infectious skin disease; it must be burned with fire.

⁵³ But if the priest sees that the infection has not spread in the clothing, the weaving, or on any skin item, ⁵⁴ the priest will order that the infected piece be washed, and he will quarantine it for another seven days. ⁵⁵ After it has been washed, if the priest sees that the infection has not changed its appearance, even though the infection has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn it with fire. It is a fungus,^[f] whether it is on the inside or outside.

⁵⁶ But if, after it is washed, the priest sees that the infection has faded, he will tear the infected part out of the cloth, the weaving, or the skin. ⁵⁷ If it appears again in the cloth, the weaving, or any item of skin, it is starting to break out. You must burn the infected item with fire. ⁵⁸ But if the infection disappears from the cloth, the weaving, or any item of skin that you washed, it must be washed again. Then it will be clean.

⁵⁹ This concludes the Instruction about the infection of skin disease in a woolen or linen cloth, weaving, or any skin item, in order to declare whether it is clean or unclean.